Dredging set to begin at Doctors Pass, monthlong project expected

SCOTT MCINTYRE/Staff
A paddle boarder paddles past dredging barges as they work on dredging sand bar that has formed in Doctors Pass in Naples to clear the way for boaters on Thursday Oct. 17, 2013.

David Albers/Staff
A dredging barge sits in Doctors Pass on Monday, Oct. 14, 2013, in Naples.

David Albers

NAPLES - Critical care for Doctors Pass has arrived with dredging to begin by this weekend.

Dredging equipment, including several barges, arrived at the southern end of Doctors Pass during the weekend and contractors are getting ready to mobilize now that Collier County officials issued the permit to proceed Tuesday.

Nearby residents in Admiralty Point and Indies West had mixed reactions to the equipment's arrival. Some were concerned about it and others were ecstatic, saying the help couldn't come soon enough as beach erosion in those areas has been worse than ever for the past nine months.

"The people who boat in Doctors Pass and the Moorings Bay system have suffered significantly in the past nine months waiting for this. We're delighted to see this," said Al Katz, chairman of the Moorings Bay Advisory Board.

The barges' arrival was a bit of a shock to some. They are staged at the southern entrance to the beach off Gulfshore Boulevard, highly visible to residents in the condominiums.

"It's a massively big job. A lot of people have either forgotten or have not seen a project like this. People are surprised," Katz said.

The Doctors Pass dredging project will move about 36,000 cubic yards of sand from the center of the pass back onto the shoreline, costing about $750,000 paid for with Collier Tourist Development Council dollars. The dredging and renourishment is in coordination with the separate, larger project to renourish the shoreline from Doctors Pass to points farther north in the county, using sand coming from a mine north of Immokalee.

Sand coming in by truck from Immokalee to Horizon Way will be more coarse, with the softer sand from the pass to go on top of it, Naples Mayor John Sorey said.

"The softer sand tends to erode faster," Sorey said.

Once the dredging begins, as early as Friday or Saturday, it will continue 24 hours per day, every day, for about four weeks, he said.

The dredging of Doctors Pass became an emergency in the past several months. Boaters were getting grounded as the pass became shallow and shoreline continued disappearing.

The project was skipped over last year and many boating residents in the area were disappointed.

Doctors Pass wasn't at a critical point at the time of Collier County's assessment on whether to budget TDC money for dredging, Sorey said.

"We dredge based on need, not on a scheduled cycle. A year ago, although we were getting sand in the pass, it still was safe. It didn't make economic sense to dredge last year," Sorey said.

A winter with strong northerly winds caused quick beach erosion, filling up the pass just a couple months after the county decided not to dredge or renourish the beach.

"Due to weather, it went a lot faster than anticipated," Sorey said.

Tampa-based Orion Dredging Services is doing the dredging, which is a relief to longtime residents of the area as the previous dredging of Doctors Pass, which occurred almost six years ago, was done well by Orion Dredging, Katz said.

The difference this time is that due to the condition of the pass, it's being done under emergency circumstances, so work will be done continuously for four weeks, instead of over the course of a couple of months. At least one large barge will remain for the entire duration of the project near the beachfront condominiums of Admiralty Point and Indies West.

Those are the most serious areas of erosion — the hot spots, Katz said.

"Season is beginning, boats have been grounded on the shoals, sailors have stopped sailing, boats are waiting in their slips for the pass to open and many boats have been moved to Naples Bay where residents are paying for additional boat storage so they can continue boating," Katz said.

The sand will be sucked from the bottom of the pass through pipes and put back onto the beach.

This sand from the pass will supplement the larger project with about five times as much sand coming by truck from Immokalee. The larger beach renourishment project, which started Monday, is to be complete by mid-January, officials said.

"Doctors Pass is getting done in the quickest, most expedient way possible, and we're ecstatic about that," Katz said.